


Postcards from the disappeared

by rilina



Category: Spooks
Genre: Community: 31_days, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-05-21
Updated: 2006-05-21
Packaged: 2017-10-05 08:53:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rilina/pseuds/rilina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A formality is observed after the ending of series 3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Postcards from the disappeared

**Author's Note:**

> For 31_days' May 21st theme: I chose to do wrong in the hope that right might come.

The search of the deserted flat is a formality that has to be observed in situations like this one, even when the agent in question has been scrupulously discreet. In Danny's case, there's extra cause for concern; for two years, his flatmate was a fellow agent, and that sort of arrangement breeds carelessness. So Malcolm and Zaf find themselves ordered to comb over Danny's belongings, all to ensure that any evidence of his true occupation disappears before his grieving mother sorts through them in the coming days.

For Zaf, it's just another assignment; he never worked with Danny, and he knows nothing of Zoe and Tom. For Malcolm, it's the last gasp of an era.

In three hours the two men have found a few pieces of agency tech, forgotten in the pocket of a sports coat, and a stack of junk mail addressed to an unfamiliar name. Neither knows whether the name belongs to one of Danny's legends or, more prosaically, to the flat's previous resident; they'll run it through the system to be safe. Malcolm's beginning to think their work is finished when he finds the postcard—and the photo it conceals—buried in one of Danny's desk drawers.

It' not the first picture of Zoe that he's found, not even the first with Zoe and Will. But the Chilean postmark, with its telltale date, betrays what Danny must have done for his disgraced friend. The horrible thing, Malcolm thinks, is that Zoe can't possibly know that Danny is dead. For that matter, neither can Tom.

Malcolm only hesitates for a second before sliding the postcard into his coat pocket. Later he'll reduce it to cinders, scatter what remains into the Thames. He's usually not one for sentimental gestures, but this time he'll make an exception.

The door behind Malcolm opens when he's closing the the last desk drawer. Zaf. "Found anything else?"

Malcolm turns and shows Zaf his empty, guilty hands.


End file.
